William petry



W. PETRY. SEAL.

APPLICATION HLED IUNEZZ. W18.

1,303,955. Patented May 20, 1919.

INVEN'TOR. I

ATTORNE'YS.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIQE.

WILLIAM PETRY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE ACME CAR SEAL CO., OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 20, 1919.

Application filed June 22, 1918. Serial No. 241,320.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'it lmown that 1, WILLIAM Pn'rRY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved self-locking seal for car doors and various kinds of closures where it is desired to prevent access or the removal of parts without detection; and to provide in a sheet-metal seal an improved arrangement and construction of the sealing strap and casing adapted to prevent access thereto or injury to the locking mechanism either by manipulation of the strap ends or the insertion of a tool.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an enlarged fragmentary per spective View. showing the structural arrangement of the ends of the sealing strap.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the stamping which forms the housing.

"Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the completed housing with the ends of the strap locked therein.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same. v

In the form shown, the seal comprises a sealing strap 1 having its ends, formed for interlocking engagement with each other, and a housing 2 for retaining and protecting the interlocking ends of the strap.

The strap 1 is formed of flexible resilient sheet metal and is of substantially uniform width except at its ends, where it is reduced to form'locking tongues. The end 3 is cut away at each side and then bent back upon itself to form a rearwardly inclined locking tongue 4 slightly narrowerthanthe width of the strap, and the middle portion-of the folded end is cut away so as toprovide a central lug 5 and a pair of prongs 6 adj acent to opposite edges of the strap. A. hump 7 is pressed up near the middle of the tongue and is of hood shape so as'to provide an abrupt shoulder 8 at its rearward end and an inclined guide surface for guiding the coactin'g-part on the end of the strap into engagement with the shoulder 8.

The other end 9 'of' he strap 1 is cut away to provide space within the housing at the sides so as to provide-a slightly nal rower tongue with a shoulder 11 at each side. Near the front endof the tongue 10 there is a perforation 13, and immediately back of this, the metal of the itongue is cupped upward to form a hood-shaped.

shield 12, the front edge of the opening 13 forming a shoulder 14- which cooperates with the shoulder 8 when the strap ends are interlocked. IA short distance rearwardly of the shield 12 is a downwardly cupped hood-shaped shield 15 open toward the front, and immediately above the shield 15 is a shield 16 which is' formed by striking up a tongue 17.1, folding the same forward against the body of the tongue 10, and cupping it upward.

The houslng 2 is a sheet-metal stamping in the form of a pair of disks l7 and 18 connected by a contracted neck with an opening 20 located centrally inthe neck. 1

The stamping is folded at the neck over the ends of the prongs 6 of the end 3 of the strap, and the lateral edges of the part 17 are folded up over those of. the part 18, so that the tongues 6 are securely gripped between the adjacent flat portions of the parts 17 and 18. In orderto give additional security'to the connection between the strap 1 and the housing, said parts are all indented or otherwise crimped at 241. i

The housing stamping 2 is cupped at 21 and 22 at each side of the opening 20 sofas or the parts which are housed therein. The opening 20 forms the mouth into which the initially free end 10 of the strap 1 is inserted. When said end 10 is inserted into the housing and pushed in as far as it will go, the end of said tongue 10 will ride over the hump 7 and be forced downward by the guard the lug 5 and fit the edges of the mouth 20 so as to completely fill the latter) There is therefore no room for the insertion of an implement of any kind intothe mouth 20 without substantially distorting and 'rn-utilatingthe lips thereof,-and even if it were possible to force an implement into the mouth of the housing, the shields 15, 16, and 12 would prevent such implement from sliding along the upper surface of the lug 5 with a view to reaching and lifting the shoulder lt out of engagement with the end 9 of the strap from beingpushed into the housingso far asto buckle the tongue 10 with a,yiew to releasing theshoulders 8 and 14. The shield 12, hump 7,'and top of I r the housing all cooperate to prevent any a pull upon the end 9 of the strap 1.

-The advantage of having the shoulder 8 formed on the tongue 4= instead of being formed directly upon the adjacent part of the strap- 1', is that should there be any tendenc'y of the end of the tongue 10 which carries the shoulder 14:" to rise, the spring action of the tongue 4 would cause the shoulder 8 to rise. with it andprevent the disengagement of said shoulders under any cirums a c s.

The term hood-shaped is intended to designate a form similar to that of the hump 7, having three or more of its sides connected with or bracing against the body upon which it is formed.

, Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been herein shown and described,it will beunderstood that numerous details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention as defined by the following claims,-

I claim: I I

1. A self-locking seal comprising a strap, a forwardly projecting lug on one end of said strap, a shoulder on said strap rearw'ardly of saidlug, a shoulder on the forward-part of the other. end of said strap adapted to have interlocking engagement with said first mentioned shoulder, a shield struck out from said other end of, said strap and adapted to receive said forwardly projecting lug when said shoulders are in interlocking engagement, and a housing surrounding said interlocking strap ends, said shield and housing coacting to prevent access to said interlocking shoulders.

2. A self-locking seal comprising a strap, one end of said strap being bent back upon itself to form a yielding tongue and a forwardly projecting lug, a shoulder on said tongue reairwardly of said lug, a shoulder on the forward part of the other end of said strap and adapted to have interlocking engageinent with said first'mentioned shoulder, a shield struck out from said other end possibility of the tongue 4 being buckled by vent access to said shoulders.

wardly of said lug, a shoulder on the 01 ward part of the other end of said strap adapted to have interlocking engagement with said first mentioned shoulder, a pair of superposed shields formed on said other end of said strap and adapted to receive and guard said forwardly projecting lugwhen said shoulders are in interlocking engagement, and a housing surrounding said strap ends and coacting with said shieldsto pre- 4. A self-locking seal comprising a strap, a housing formed of a strip of metal bent intermediate its ends to provide superimposed parts with an'opening at each end thereof, one end ofsaid strap extending into said housing through one-pf said openings and being rigidly secured to said housing,

said strap end being bent back upon itself -to form a yielding tongue and a forwardly projecting lug; a shoulder struck up from said tongue rearwardly of said lug, a shoulder on the forward part of theotherend of said strap, a shield struck out from said other end of saidzstrap, said other end of said strap being adapted to be inserted in through the other opening of said housing and have said shoulders and said lugand shield respectively enter into interlocking engagement so as j to undetachably secure said strap ends in said housing,'said housing being shaped adjacent to said other opening 5 A seal of the class described, compris ing a housing and a strap having one end so asito coactwith said shield and prevent permanently fastened in the housing and having its lateral marginal edges clamped between the marginal port ons of the housing, a locking shoulderformedon aid strap end, said strap having its other end formed to provide a shoulder adapted to interfit' with said first-named shoulder when said strap ends are brought into .GIldWlSG over- {jlaping engagement within thehousing, and a hollow shield carried by said other strap end adapted to receive and protectthe front end o'fsaid first strap end. I I H a 6. In a seal, a housing comprising a stamping folded upon itself and having an aperture in the folded part to form a mouth,

a strap havingone end bent back upon itself and having its lateral edges permanently vclamped between the opposedjparts of the housing, a portion ofthe folded back part ofsaid strap end being shaped to form a tongue and sprung outward from the plane tongue, and having thereon a hollow shield of "the strap and having thereon a locking adapted to fill said mouth and to receive the shoulder, the fold in said strap being emadjacent end portion of said permanently 10 braced by the fold in the housing, and the fastened strap end.

other end of said strap being adapted to Signed at Chicago this 13th day of June enter said mouth and having thereon a 1918.

shoulder coasting with the shoulder on said WILLIAM PETRY.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of l'atents, Washington, D. 0. 

